Remembering Death
by shenkai
Summary: Wufei thinks back to the dead loves in his life while he prepares his best friend's body for the funeral viewing.5x2


Spoilers: Episode Zero manga flashback.

Authors Notes: This was written a long time ago, and then forgotten in a drawer somewhere. It had been meant for a longer fic, but that fic was scrapped because it was awful. This one scene is a stand alone, and is one of the better pieces from that arc. May publish others from it as I find them.

**Remembering Death**

"What are we going to do, Old Man, now that you have gone?" I said to the corpse that lay on the examining table, the bloody spear that killed him lay next to him, and the gaping hole that used to be his eye was left uncovered. It was disgusting, really, how the doctor just left the face uncovered like that, one eye open, unseeing, and staring, a look of horror even though death was instantaneous.

I locked the door to the room, to assure that I would not be intruded upon. I retrieved a basin and soap from the cabinet, and filled the basin with water in the sink. "Sally wants to see you, Old Man, but I'm sure you don't want her to see you like this," I placed the basin full of water on the table next to the one he lie on, wetting and lathering up a towel to begin to wash the blood off his face and naked chest. A clean shirt was hanging from a hook, as well as an eye patch to cover the hole.

I did not relish a task of washing the body. The "old man", Sebastian , was my best friend and mentor, I could not accept that he was dead. As I washed his hair, I hummed to myself, trying to block out what I was doing, pretending that I was washing Duo's hair after rescuing him, who was now my companion, Sebastian would never let me do this to him, so it couldn't possibly be him.

The humming did not work, it just reminded me of my grandmother's and my first wife's deaths, two more deaths that should have never happened. Grandmother died trying to save me from dying, humming as she infused her life force with mine, all because of Romefeller's OZ division. Then Meilan, my wife who also died protecting me, fighting for justice and defending our people from OZ's planned destruction. True, our marriage was not a model one, constant fights, and neither one of us really liking each other, or did we? I can remember sitting in the study, reading, and secretly watching her as she sat there, fuming about how I was reading and not training to fight for her noble cause called justice. We were the heirs of our noble families, our marriage had been arranged, and almost from the first moment we were together at the wedding, we were fighting. She had of course seen me around the palace, reading, studying, and never training. Once I had become her husband, she expected that all to change.

_"Wufei, how come I never see you training to defend our kingdom?" she asked, one sunny day when I was reading in the field of flowers behind the palace._

_I had come out alone, and had been sitting there for a while, a little dove cooing at my side, as I lay and read a twentieth century poetry book. "Woman, I'm reading," I responded, turning the page and ignoring her presence, smiling inwardly._

_"Hn, that's all you do."_

_"I see no reason to fight."_

_"Don't you believe in Justice and protecting your people?"_

_"Meilan, there is no such thing as justice."_

_"Wufei, you know I hate it when you call me that. Call me Nataku," she said, placing her hands on her hips as if in protest. She believed that she was the reincarnation of Nataku, a warrior of Justice, and the noblest one at that. I, not believing in justice, usually saw no need to pay heed to her ranting, but did as the sky started to turn gray._

_"Meilan…" I sighed, taking my glasses off and closing them in the book. Laying the book down, I got up, to stand eye-level with her, rather than look up at her._

_"You do not believe in justice, so what do you believe in?"_

_"Peace."_

_"I don't think you could fight, that's why you don't wish to. You are a weak girl," she said, getting in a stance ready to fight, "Show me you can fight."_

_"I have no desire to fight you, Wife," I said turning away from her._

_"If you do not fight, Wufei, then don't call me Wife. I'll call you wife, and you can call me husband," she began to laugh, until I turned back to her. Rain had started to fall, which was more than a little strange, since the rain wasn't scheduled until the next day._

_"Alright, if you want to be that way, the winner is right about justice. If I win, then justice does not exist," I said, knowing by her own boasting that she was the strongest and best fighter in the entire colony._

_"Right," she said, convinced that she would be the victor._

_The fight lasted almost a minute. She came at me and I just stood there as she spent her pent-up anger on blows that never hit, as I was very capable of ducking them. Then her final blow, which would have been a kick straight to my chest, I caught, sending her over my head, landing on a soft patch of flowers, I made sure she couldn't get up, the rain coming down harder, soaking us both._

_"Lemme up," she sputtered and I shielded her face by putting mine right above it, my hair falling forward framing our faces._

_"No Wife!" I said, giving her a quick kiss before complying, just as the rain stopped._

_She got up and bolted back to the house, I followed at a more leisurely pace, taking the time to admire the white clouds that were where gray clouds had been seconds earlier, and a rainbow. Unfortunately, OZ Leo's entering the atmosphere marred this peaceful scene._

_"Meilan, Leos are coming!" I said, running into the house._

_"Leos are coming? Shall we serve tea?"_

_"No, Meilan, OZ has finally come to cleanse the colony."_

_"My People!!! How many are there?"_

_"Five or six," she was gone, down the corridor to the hangar where a prototype for the Leo and Master O's new Gundam, "Shenlong," were kept. I ran in after her to hear Master O protest, "A woman is not strong enough to operate that," she was climbing into the cockpit of the prototype. "Then I am no longer woman, I am Nataku!" she yelled, looking directly at me, "Goodbye wife," she mouthed the insult, not daring to say it aloud, and I could see the hurt in her eyes._

_"Meilan!" I called as she took off in her Leo._

_"Wufei, let her go!" Master O called as I began to climb into Shenlong's cockpit._

_"I can't Master O. She is my Heart. I must protect her," I said, fastening myself into the cockpit of the Gundam._

_"Your heart?! Even more of a reason not to go! Wufei!!!" it was too late, I was already taking off in Shenlong, to join my wife._

"Penny for your thoughts, Dear," Duo said, interrupting my remembrances.

"How did you get in here?!" I asked, shocked that I had not heard the door open.

"Darling, you let me in," he said, suppressing a laugh at the thought of my not remembering that, "Ne, Wu-chan, my husband, where were you just now? You seemed so far away?"

Someone had moved the spear and covered the hole. Now, Duo was buttoning the shirt, Sebastian's soiled clothes were in the trash bin, the old man seemed to be peacefully sleeping.

"Hmm, I was just remembering things."

"Really? What kind of things?" he asked, carrying the basin of bloody water to the sink to be emptied. His long hair was loose, making me want to go burrow my face in the silkiness of it.

I came up behind him, wrapping my arms around him, and buried my face in his hair, kissing his neck, thankful that someone I love is still alive. "Wu, what kind of things were you thinking of?" he asked, turning in my arms to face me.

"I was thinking about Death. Remembering when people I cared about died."

—END—

_Original Date Posted: 15 January 2007_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the GW characters, or any other commercially released thing mentioned in the contents therein. I do however own the personas of the characters contained within, and any resemblances to any other author's characters (of the same name or real life persons for that matter) is purely coincidental and is not done with that intent in mind._


End file.
